Everything We Know About The Justice League Movie

Here's Everything You Need To Know About The Justice League Movie

The Justice League movie is in a different position to an Avengers one. Given the lacklustre response to every DC Universe movie since The Dark Knight trilogy, Justice League’s job is not so much to be the glorious sum of the individual movies’ beloved parts, but to make up for how disappointing Man of Steel and Batman v Superman were. Fortunately, the latest trailer actually looks more promising than either of those films did eight months from release but there’s still quite some time to go until it’s released on November 17th. Will it actually be any good? We can’t say for now, but this is what we do know.

The Players

The role call of Justice League members is Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Godot), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa). Superman (Henry Cavill) does not appear in the initial line-up on account of being, as a result of the events of Batman v Superman, currently dead.

Batman

Still in a huff. At the end of Batman v Superman, Bruce Wayne was told by Lex Luthor that bad aliens would be coming for Earth now that Superman was out of the picture. Keen to keep the planet from any further destruction, other than that which he causes himself, Wayne teams up with Wonder Woman to form some sort a protective super team. Fortunately, Lex Luthor has been keeping tabs on America’s super-powered beings and having nicked his files Wayne can just chuck them an email.

Wonder Woman

The League’s co-founder will be getting her own origin movie in June, well before Justice League is released, so we’ll find out Wonder Woman’s full deal then. Broadly, she’s an immortal Amazonian princess of indeterminate age who’s been looking out for humanity since at least the First World War. She’s been in hiding for decades, but came back when Earth faced a massive threat thanks to Lex Luthor. She’s played by Gal Godot, who was probably the best part of Batman v Superman.

Cyborg

Cyborg was not always just a bit of face attached to a robot. A brief shot in the trailer suggests we’ll see some of his back-story, but Cyborg was previously Victor Stone, a college athlete who was almost killed in an accident. His scientist father took the few scraps of his son that were left and rebuilt him, with the aid of a Mother Box (more on those later), which gave him superpowers. He’s played by newcomer Ray Fisher.

The Flash

The trailers suggest he’ll be the source of most of the film’s comedy and a strong early bet for break-out star. Barry Allen is a forensic investigator who acquires the ability to move at lightning speed – and he seems to have the fast mouth to match. He’s played by Ezra Miller, of We Need To Talk About Kevin and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

Aquaman

Going by the unlikely pseudonym of Arthur Curry when he mixes among land-bound humans, Aquaman is the king of the underwater city of Atlantis. He can telepathically talk to sea creatures and has, in his time, shown the ability to become huge bodies of water himself. The trailer suggests a constant dick-swinging, alpha-male battle between Aquaman and Batman. He’s played by Jason Momoa, of Game of Thrones fame.

The Bad Guy

Ciaran Hinds will be playing Steppenwolf. He was, in a non-Ciaran Hinds version, seen in a deleted scene from Batman v Superman (we think; it’s not 100% confirmed). In a plot that will in some way be connected to the events of Batman vs. Superman (if you can fully follow those events, please write in and explain) Steppenwolf is on the hunt for three Mother Boxes, which are sort of space computers that will grant their possessor extraordinary powers. Essentially, they’re the Justice League equivalent of the Marvel movies’ Infinity Stones. Hinds’ role is motion-capture, so we probably won’t actually see him. He hasn’t been shown in the trailers so far so he may or may not have the same look as in BvS.

Superman

Who’d have guessed that Warner Bros wouldn’t entirely kill off one of its most lucrative heroes? We know that Henry Cavill has filmed scenes for Justice League because he put photos of his training on Instagram and also teased a possible new costume but nobody’s really been talking about how much he’ll figure. He doesn’t appear in the trailer. Director Zack Snyder isn’t telling much, but did say “It’s hard to have a Justice League without Superman”, so he’ll be there somewhere, naturally.

Lois Lane

There’s a shot of her in the trailer. Will she get a role larger than BvS’s ‘woman who moves props around’? Hopefully, but given the number of characters the film needs to fit in it’s unlikely she’ll figure significantly. The DC films in which Amy Adams has appeared so far have royally screwed Lane, demoting an independent ace reporter to Superman’s imperilled girlfriend.

Lighter than BvS

One of the criticisms of Batman v Superman was that it was very, very serious. Zack Snyder promised that Justice League will not be quite so dour (although he didn’t call it dour himself). The trailers so far support this. There are actual laughs, mostly derived from the personality clashes between the new workmates.

Supporting Cast

Arguably, those further down the cast list are more famous than most of those in the leads. As well as Jeremy Irons as Alfred, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and Diane Lane as Martha Kent, who were all introduced in BvS, Justice League will see Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons as a buffed-up Commissioner Gordon, Willem Dafoe as Aquaman-advisor Nuidis Vulko, Amber Heard as Aquaman’s wife Mera, Connie Nielsen as Wonder Woman’s mum Hippolyta, and Billy Crudup as The Flash’s dad Dr. Henry Allen.